The partnership of Grifo and Weißhaupt worked well down the left, with Bochum sitting back early on looking for chances to start a counter-attack. The first shot for either side came in the 12th minute from a VfL corner, which was flicked on at the near post to Bernardo at the back, who could only direct his header wide. A long ball by Bochum keeper Manuel Riemann led to the opening goal after a quarter of an hour. Asano switched the play with a cross for Paciencia, who took it on the volley on the edge of the box, timing it beautifully to pick out the bottom corner. It was a goal from nowhere, but Bochum were the side with the best chances to date.

In Márton Dárdai and Jessic Ngankam, Hertha have two players called up to the Germany U21s squad for the U21s EUROs. Antonio Di Salvo originally called up a provisional squad of 26 players, including goalkeepers, before cutting three players on 14th June.

Continuity in the region: Audi and TSG Hoffenheim will continue their successful cooperation over the next four years. The Four Rings have been by TSG’s side since the club’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 2009. “Continuity is an essential success factor in football – that is why we are always on hand to help our long-term partners, even in challenging times. TSG Hoffenheim have impressively established themselves as the sporting figurehead of the region in the Bundesliga and, like Audi, strive for outstanding performance,” said Fred Schulze, Audi’s Neckarsulm plant manager.

Find all the best facts from our game against Darmstadt below

Serhou Guirassy has won the Bundesliga’s Player of the Month vote for September.

The experienced Genki Haraguchi fired home a superb strike from 25 yards after 75 minutes to equalise against last season’s Spanish Cup winners. Six minutes later, the turnaround was complete when Timo Baumgartl headed past Julen Agirrezabala from close range.

VfL Wolfsburg suffered their first home defeat in their fourth home match of the 2023/24 Bundesliga season. After three wins, it was leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen who ended the Wolves’ perfect record at the Volkswagen Arena, claiming a 2-1 victory. Maxence Lacroix cancelled out Jeremie Frimpong’s opener shortly before half-time, but VfL could find no reply to the second strike from the Bundesliga’s form team, despite forcing them to hang on at the end.

Antony, who has often been criticised this season for not tracking back, made the starting line-up against Liverpool with Erik ten Hag leaving him on the pitch for the whole match.

His heavy-legged team, which was a colourful mix of current U17s and U19s players, dominated the game for extended periods. Fortuna took a 1-0 lead with the only promising attack of the first half, with Kassim Knelles finding the net on 14 minutes. BVB levelled the game at 1-1 immediately after the restart. Julian Rijkhoff converted a penalty after a foul on Rafael Lubach. The Black and Yellows had plenty of chances to win the game, and in the end, all that was lacking was a little bit of luck. Fortuna’s goalkeeper Simon Vu foiled BVB’s greatest chance with an outstanding save from a well-placed header by Rijkhoff in the 83rd minute.”Every player in the squad got game time and did their best. I can’t ask for any more under these conditions in terms of the personnel situation,” Tullberg explained. The U19s will play the last game of the special match round and the 2022/23 season against VfB Stuttgart next Wednesday, 24 May in the Youth Performance Centre. Kick-off is at 13:00 CET.

Thriving in a new role Florian Neuhaus is continuing to grow into his new leading role...